WESTERN EUROPE: Game Without Chips

At noontime one day last week a
platoon of brass-buttoned, bowler-and top-hatted runners fanned out
from the Bank of England through the rabbit-warren streets of the City
of London. When their message reached the stock exchange, there was
stunned silence, and for almost half an hour trading was all but
suspended. By government decree, the Bank of England interest rate (on
which most other British interest rates depend) had been sharply raised
from 5% to 7%its highest level since 1920.

This was Britain's emphatic answer to an emphatic crisis in Western
Europe's currency, involving Britain, France and West Germany....